Mary Baker Eddy

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Mary Baker Eddy

Mary Baker Eddy (born July 16, 1821 in Bow near Concord , New Hampshire as Mary Morse Baker , † December 3, 1910 in Chestnut Hill near Boston ), "discovered" in 1866 in his own words the divine laws of life, truth and love and called her discovery Christian Science , developed her theology in the following years, published her major work Science and Health with Key to the Holy Scriptures in 1875 and founded the worldwide Christian Science Church.

Childhood and youth

Mary Baker Eddy grew up in a deeply religious home, the youngest of six children. At the age of 17 she joined the congregationalists , who instead of an official church advocated the Christian individual congregation ( congregation ) and recognized the word of God recorded in the Bible as the highest norm. However, she rebelled against the doctrine of predestination in her church. Since childhood she was in poor health and developed an early interest in the healing accounts of the Bible.

In 1843 she married George Washington Glover. He died about a year later, shortly before the birth of their son George Washington Glover, Jr., whom she gave away at the age of four due to precarious living conditions and only saw him again after 31 years. In 1853 she married Daniel Patterson.

First steps

As early as the 50s of the 19th century, Mary Baker Eddy began to investigate various healing methods , including homeopathy . In the 60s she showed a keen interest in the methods of the healer Phineas Parkhurst Quimby , with whom she was being treated (see also New Spirit Movement ). Eddy linked Quimby's teaching with the hope of having found access to biblical healing. His autosuggestion arts initially brought her relief and she researched the reasons for his method. However, Eddy's basic Christian conviction is sharply separated from Quimby's suggestive healing practice, in which, as she said, “God is not at the center”. She also rejects Quimby's practice of magnetically rubbing the patient's head as a practice of animal magnetism and thus unchristian.

Development of the theology of Christian Science

After an accident in the winter of 1866, from a medical point of view there was hardly any prospect of recovery. By reflecting on the Bible ( Mt 9 : 1-8  EU , The Healing of a Paralyzed Man) she claims to have experienced a spontaneous healing . This experience led to a three-year Bible study and the development of Christian Science teaching. A little later she opened her own healing practice. Convinced that illness before God does not have the reality ascribed to it and can be overcome through a clearer understanding of God and his idea, man, she began to teach her developing doctrine in private.

Publication of the main work and foundation of the church

English edition of Science and Health with Keys to the Scriptures and the Bible ( King James translation)

In 1873 she was divorced from Patterson after an unhappy marriage. In 1875 the first edition of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures appeared . The publication was followed by the establishment of a small church (Christian Scientist's Association), which led to the establishment of the first church (Church of Christ, Scientist) in 1879, with her as the only pastor. She married one of her six followers in 1877 and took his name, Eddy. Asa Eddy died in 1882. Mary Baker Eddy devoted the rest of her life to building the Church (building Metaphysical College and reorganizing). 1892 leads to the new name of the mother church of the new religious community: The First Church of Christ, Scientist and the Revision of Science and Health with Key to Holy Scripture , the textbook of religion.

Late work

Eventually, Mary Baker Eddy withdrew from the public eye and directed her movement through writing alone. The constitution of the church she wrote, the “Church Handbook of the Mother Church”, is still the basis of the institutions of the worldwide Christian Science movement .

Christian Science Monitor logo

She founded the Pulitzer Prize- winning weekly Christian Science Monitor , the Christian Science Journal, the Christian Science Sentinel, and the Christian Science Herold, which is published in 17 languages.

Fonts

  • Science and Health with the Key to the Scriptures (1898)
  • Mixed fonts
  • Review and insight
  • Unity of the good
  • Pulpit and press
  • Fundamentals of Divine Science
  • no and yes
  • Christian Science in contrast to pantheism
  • Messages to The Mother Church, 1900, 1901, 1902
  • Christian healing
  • People's general view of God
  • The First Church of Christ, Scientists, and Miscellaneous
  • The Handbook of the Mother Church

Library

Mary Baker Eddy Library in Boston

The Mary Baker Eddy Library was opened in Boston in 2002 and is dedicated to the social and religious work of the author and church founder of the same name. It is open to the public and also offers scientists access to original documents and a research service.

Biographies

  • Sybil Wilbur: The Story of the Real Mrs. Eddy , Human Life 1907, German: The life of Mary Eddy Baker , Boston 1926
  • Robert Peel: Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Discovery , Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Trial , and Mary Baker Eddy: The Years of Authority . (English) Christian Science authorized biography
  • Gillian Gill: Mary Baker Eddy , 1999, Perseus Books, ISBN 0-7382-0227-4 (English)
  • Mary Baker Eddy: Speaking for Herself , 2002, Writings of Mary Baker Eddy, ISBN 0-87952-275-5 (English)
  • Willa Cather and Georgine Milmine The Life of Mary Baker G. Eddy and the History of Christian Science , 1909, reprinted 1993, University of Nebraska Press, ISBN 0-8032-6349-X (English)
  • Stefan Zweig : Healing through the spirit. Mesmer. Mary Baker-Eddy. Freud , S. Fischer Frankfurt / Main ISBN 3-10-097052-7 ( E-Text ) - "Stefan Zweig's presentation does not claim to be a scientific work, but rather illustrates the narrative possibilities of spiritual and spiritual healing." (from the announcement of the publisher)

literature

Web links

Wikiquote: Mary Baker Eddy  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dale Carnegie: Don't Worry - Live !: The Art of Finding a Life Freed from Fear and Excitement. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2003, ISBN 3-596-50692-1 , pp. 151 f .
  2. ↑ About us. In: The Mary Baker Eddy Library. Accessed April 9, 2020 (German).
  3. ^ Sebastian Smee in Boston: Perspective | This enormous glass sphere represents the entire world, as it was in 1935. Retrieved on April 9, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Baker Eddy, Mary
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American author and religious founder
DATE OF BIRTH July 16, 1821
PLACE OF BIRTH Bow at Concord
DATE OF DEATH December 3, 1910
Place of death Chestnut Hill